Most players idolize those who came before them, former players from past eras who inspired them to play the game. However, Stephen Jackson is different because he looked up to his contemporary, the late great Kobe Bean Bryant .
Kobe entered the league ahead of Jackson, so you might say that's perhaps the reason why his idol is a player who was born four months after him. But no, Jack has followed Kobe's game since they were in high school, and he has been a fan of the Black Mamba even way back then.
"Very few people idolize somebody the same age as them. I think growing up as a teenager and seeing Kobe in the ABCD and McDonald's All-Star Game, you knew he was going to be this great. I never knew he was gon' be this great, but I know he was going to be great," Stack confessed.
Stak and Kobe were teammates on the McDonald's All-American Game
Jackson starred at Lincoln High School in his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas. As a junior, he led the school to the state championship. However, due to academic ineligibility, he was forced to transfer to Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, where he earned All-American honors and an invitation to the 1996 McDonald's All-American game.
In that prestigious High School All-Star game, Stak played on the East team along with fellow future NBA players Jermaine O'Neal, Tim Thomas, Rip Hamilton, and Bryant. Among them, he said it was Kobe who undeniably stood out.
"He just had that attitude," added Jackson. "My mom posted a picture of her and Kobe. Like everybody was taking pictures of Kobe in high school because we knew he was going to be great. And he was untouchable to me, like I said, a god on earth to me."
Jackson won a championship in the NBA, but Kobe had five
Bryant turned pro after that McDonald's game and ended up with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson entered the draft one year later, and although he was picked in 1997, Stak didn't catch his first break in the NBA until 2000, when the Nets signed him. Although he ended up winning a championship with the Spurs in 2003, his NBA career paled in comparison to Kobe's.
"I was solid – 13,000 points scored, championship and all that," said Jackson in another interview. "But Kobe was great. Five championships. Kobe was great because he sacrificed so much and people don’t understand the sacrifice he made. You have to be a player to really understand that.”
Many misunderstood Kobe as a snob, hard to get along with, and unpatient with his teammates. However, for someone who admired Bean as much as Captain Jack did, he was just a highly driven individual who wanted to be the greatest.
Related: Stephen Jackson reacts to Kobe saying he should've won the 1996 McDonald's MVP award: "That's all I wanted to hear"
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